


Look Me in my Eyes

by Spooky_Janis



Series: janis x karen [2]
Category: Mean Girls (2004), Mean Girls - Richmond/Benjamin/Fey
Genre: F/F, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-24
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-08-28 09:20:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,049
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16720641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooky_Janis/pseuds/Spooky_Janis
Summary: Karen Smith presses part of the tiara into Janis’s hand and Janis catches sight of her wrist.More importantly, the tiara-shaped mark on her wrist.Janis doesn't believe in soulmates until she meets her own.





	Look Me in my Eyes

Janis is sixteen when she finally gets her mark.

She’s eating breakfast, half asleep and only half listening to her dad’s rambling about work, when there’s a searing pain in her wrist. Her spoon clatters on the kitchen floor and instinctively she rubs the stinging area, pulling her hand away to reveal it—a small tiara on her right wrist. There are a few seconds of stunned silence as she takes it in, and then she holds it up to show her dad.

“Nice one, kiddo,” he smiles, ruffling her hair as she hops off of her stool to grab a new spoon. “Any idea who it is?”

“No,” Janis scoffs. “Don’t really care, either. Knowing my luck they probably live on a remote island somewhere and I’ll never meet them.”

“Yeah,” her dad laughs. “Well, soulmate or not, you love whoever makes you happy.”

Janis appreciates the sentiment but she rolls her eyes at her dad anyway. Her parents had practically drilled it into her when she was in her early teens, telling her over and over again that love was love regardless of marks, and so it was something that she knew well. Soulmates were bullshit in her opinion, ruining perfectly good and happy relationships, and she’d never understood the appeal of them anyway. Regina, Gretchen and Karen would talk for hours about what they thought theirs would be like—Damian too—but Janis would just shrug when asked and attempt to change the topic.

She just doesn’t care. Never has and never will.

A knock at the door pulls her from her thoughts and she shoves the last spoonful of cereal into her mouth before dashing to the front door. She pulls it open, holding up a finger before Damian can speak.

She runs upstairs to her bedroom, rooting around in her jewellery box until she finds a few bracelets that she likes. Slipping them on over her mark she leaves, grabbing her jacket slung over the back of her desk chair. She pulls it on as she hurriedly rushes back to Damian, shouting goodbye to her dad over her shoulder before slamming the front door.

“I’m gonna show you something and you have to promise not to freak out,” Janis says as she and Damian start the walk to the bus stop. “If you tell anyone I’ll kill you.”

“Janis, dear, you’re literally my only friend so even if I wanted to tell someone I’d have no one to tell,” Damian laughs. Janis rolls the sleeve of her jacket up, rolling the bracelets down slightly. “Okay, I was not expecting that.”

Janis hurries to cover it up before they reach the stop, already aware of the glares her and Damian are getting just for being there. “Yeah, neither was I.”

“You should tell people,” Damian says, his voice low. “Regina will be absolutely livid that you got yours before she got hers.”

“It’s tempting,” Janis shrugs as they board the bus. “But I’d rather not draw attention to it right now. We both know that we don’t need any more of that.”

“That’s true,” Damian nods, leaning his head back against the seat. “Well, I’m gonna nap. Wake me up when we get there?”

* * *

Damian gets his mark halfway through the school year. They’re laying on the couch in Janis’s basement watching a crappy romcom one night when he suddenly jerks and rolls off onto the floor, holding his ankle. Janis sits up, opening her mouth to ask if he’s okay, when he pulls down his sock and shrieks.

“Janis, look!” He squeals and she does. “It’s a… a—”

“Calculator?” Janis burst into a fit of giggles, flopping back against the couch. There’s a muffled yell from Janis’s mom asking if they’re okay and Damian has to respond because Janis is laughing too hard to speak. “It’s not funny,” he pouts at her, looking genuinely upset, and Janis stops laughing, lowering herself onto the floor next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulder. “I waited all this time and it’s a fucking calculator.”

“Think about who likes math, Damian,” she says. “Think about who you met because of math.”

It takes a few minutes for the pieces to click but Damian’s eyes light up when they do. “Aaron?” He says and Janis nods. “I-I’ll text him right now.”

“There’s a problem, though,” Janis says and her chest physically hurts when Damian’s face falls. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought it up in the first place. She takes a deep breath. “He’s dating Regina.”

Damian’s head drops into his hands. “Oh God.” He murmurs.

Janis pulls him closer, holding him as he cries. Neither of them are paying attention to the movie anymore, and the snack bowls lay untouched beside them until Damian’s mom picks him up. Janis waves him off from the front door, staying there until the car is out of view. She’s full of anger, Damian’s sobs echoing in her mind.

Soulmates are most definitely bullshit and tonight has proved that for her. Damian deserves better than having to watch the supposed love of his life make out with Regina every lunch time. There’s a minuscule amount of hope that maybe, since Aaron would have received his mark too, they’ll break up when he tells her. But Janis wouldn’t put it past Regina to keep dating Aaron out of spite, or for Aaron to hide it because how the fuck do you even tell Regina George that she’s not your soulmate?

“Love sucks.” Janis announces to her parents, flopping into one of the armchairs.

“Ah, to be a teenager agai—”

“Dad I’m being serious,” Janis huffs. “I hate love. All it does is get people hurt.”

And then Janis is crying and she doesn’t even know why. Her parents try and console her but seeing their matching marks makes her cry even harder. It’s not as if she’s ever cared about this shit before, not until tonight when Damian got hurt, and maybe that's why she’s crying—because she’s upset about everything with Damian—all she knows is that she feels a little better once she’s all cried out, wrapped in her mom’s arms as a nature documentary plays on the TV.

* * *

For the first time since her mark appeared, Janis lets herself have a little faith in love when she meets Cady Heron.

The girl makes her stomach twist in knots every time they make eye contact in the halls. She’s hanging out with the Plastics, so they can’t talk on school grounds, but Cady’s laughter fills Janis’s basement most afternoons and Janis loves it. She wears a bracelet too, in a similar position to Janis’s and Janis lets herself hope for a little while.

She soon learns her lesson when Cady admits that she hasn’t received her mark yet and she’s upset, yes, but it doesn’t hurt as much as Janis thought it would. She bounces back pretty quickly and soon enough they’re too invested in their revenge plan to even think about dating.

Well, besides Damian and Aaron.

Janis is ecstatic when Damian breaks the news, and it makes the entire plan worth it. Honestly, Janis would be happy enough to stop right there because, hell, watching your ex-boyfriend date your worst enemies best friend has to suck, but Damian and Cady are both adamant that they carry on. So they do, and it’s fucking glorious when Regina is reduced to nothing.

But it’s not glorious when Cady betrays Janis.

She hadn’t seen it coming—nobody had—but she finds herself crying in Damian’s arms in the basement that night and her faith is crushed once again. She tells Damian this and it feels stupid because, fuck, Damian has found his soulmate. Damian’s in love.

“Maybe I’m just cursed,” Janis sniffs, wiping at her stinging cheeks. It’s the only logical conclusion at this moment in time. “Maybe I’m just never meant to find love,” she throws her bracelets across the room, glaring at the mark on her wrist. “Maybe this is just fake and taunting me.”

And Damian doesn’t say anything, but he runs his hands through her hair and holds her until she eventually falls asleep.

Cady’s betrayal hardens her, though, and she finds herself in the gym that same week, middle fingers raised high. She falls backwards, trusting in her fellow students for once, and they don’t let her down. It’s a little weird to be accepted after all this time of being ostracised, but Janis isn’t complaining when her name is being shouted in the hall without any ounce of disgust in people’s voices.

* * *

It’s at Spring Fling when Janis’s world is flipped on its head.

When Cady wins queen and apologises. When Cady snaps the tiara. When she’s handed the bulk of it and sits it atop her head with a goofy smile.

When Karen Smith presses part of the tiara into Janis’s hand and Janis catches sight of her wrist.

More importantly, the tiara-shaped mark on her wrist.

Damian sees it too, and the pair lock eyes. Janis hears his squeal even over the loud music, and suddenly he’s pushing her forwards towards the blonde girl who’s looking at them like they have three heads.

And Janis doesn’t even know what to say because it makes so much goddamn sense. She’d always preferred Karen to Regina and Gretchen; she wasn’t as bitchy, wasn’t as prissy, she’d listen to Janis’s rants and she was the only one who never reacted badly when the whole ‘situation’ happened. Janis remembers that summer, when Karen would check up on her every now and again until Regina caught on and put a stop to it. Karen has always cared.

“Karen.” Janis has to shout to be heard over the music, and she moves so that they’re stood toe to toe.

She takes Karen’s wrist gently, turning it over and pressing it beside her own. Karen lets out a gasp and the two make eye contact. Janis is surprised to see tears in Karen’s eyes, and she pulls the other girl into a tight hug.

They agree to move from the crowded hall, Karen practically dragging Janis out to the back of the school. It’s a lot quieter, and there’s nobody about so they sit on the concrete with their back against the wall and stare at each other’s wrists for what feels like forever.

“I had a feeling,” Karen mumbles eventually. “But I—well… Regina would’ve murdered me if I brought it up, you know? And I didn’t think that you would want anything to do with me after what happened.”

“You weren’t mean to me, Karen,” Janis shrugs. “I’m not gonna lie and say that I had any idea because I didn’t. I mean, we were always close but soulmates? No offence, but you aren’t exactly what comes to mind.”

“No, I get it,” Karen lifts a shoulder. “You’re you and I’m me. I’m a Plastic and you’re…” she trails off and they meet each other’s eyes again. Janis knows what she’s implying and it kind of stings, but Karen is right. They’re from two completely different worlds. “But you don’t have to be anymore. If we—if you want to be my girlfriend then you can join us.”

Janis laughs at that, shaking her head. She takes Karen’s hands. “I think we should wait a bit for the whole girlfriend thing, and, once again, no offence, but I’d rather die than become a Plastic,” she studies Karen’s nail varnish, a pink colour that matches her dress. “I’m willing to go on a date, though? Just to test the waters, you know?”

“Next Thursday?” Karen asks, eyes sparkling in the dim light. “We can go to the mall after school and then get some food somewhere?”

And maybe it’s not Janis’s ideal date—not that she has any idea what that is, really, she’s never been on one before—but the excitement in Karen’s voice is evident and it’s clear that it’ll be a fun time for her. Janis isn’t about to blow this, not when she finally has a chance at love.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she nods. “Thank you.”

It’s a possibility that soulmates aren’t bullshit after all. Janis will just have to wait and see.


End file.
